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Following the World Health Organization’s declaration that the Zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquitos and may cause birth defects, is a public health emergency, Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) and bipartisan leaders from the House Energy and Commerce Committee today reached outto U.S. government health experts. The leaders requested briefings in the immediate future from Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Nicole Lurie, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In addition to requesting the briefings, Rep. DeGette and bipartisan leaders from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce posed a number of questions to the three agencies about the U.S. public health response to the growing Zika crisis. The committee anticipates holding a hearing in the coming weeks.

In the letters to the three agencies, the bipartisan leaders write, “The Zika virus is an emerging public health threat linked to a rise in babies born with microcephaly, a very serious condition characterized by a small head and brain. … With Zika now circulating in 24 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Central and South America, there is increased concern that the virus could reach the continental U.S. According to a new study in the journal The Lancet, the Zika virus has the potential to spread across warmer and wetter parts of the Western hemisphere as mosquitoes pick up the virus from infected travelers and then spread the virus to other people. Infectious disease models estimate as many as 200 million people in the U.S. live in areas that might be conducive to the spread of Zika during summer months.”

Rep. DeGette and her committee colleagues are seeking an update on what is known about the virus and its impact on pregnant women, what questions remain unanswered, what actions are being taken to counteract the threat of Zika, and if these actions are adequate and timely.